


A Change of Plans

by Kibbers



Series: Christmas OTP Challenge [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cuddling, Elf Ears, Hot Chocolate, M/M, Santa hats, Storytelling, gabriel being cute with kids, stranded in airport
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 19:23:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5345744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kibbers/pseuds/Kibbers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam's flight home gets cancelled, leaving him stranded in the airport on Christmas Eve, snow storm raging outside. There, he meets Gabriel, bright and cheerful, as he tells stories to the kids who were stranded, sending laughter through the otherwise depressingly silent airport. Sam thinks Gabriel just might be the way to make the whole situation bearable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Change of Plans

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty, this is Day 3: Hot Chocolate. Let me know what you think and come say hi on Tumblr [ here ](http://www.kibberswrites.tumblr.com/)!

“I’m sorry, Mr. Winchester. With the snow, all our flights are delayed until morning at least.”

Sam’s heart sank. He was going to miss Christmas Eve with his family, and instead had to spend it here in the airport, alone. At this point, he'd be lucky to make home by Christmas morning, miss the present opening and the hot chocolate they made a tradition of. And to think he'd gotten to the airport two hours early ‘just in case’.  Fat lot of good that did. The lady behind the counter looked run down, dark bags under her eyes and shaking hands. She was bracing for the yelling that was almost guaranteed to come when things like this happened.

“Alright, I understand, thanks anyway,” Sam said, and she relaxed in front of him. “Happy holidays, ma’am.”

“Thank you, you too.”

Sam turned, gathering his bags and making his way to the lounge area near his gate, with outlets to plug his laptop into and the most comfortable looking chairs, though that wasn’t by much. He tugged his scarf from his neck and slipped his jacket off, the lounge heaters blasting above, and he balled them into a cushion for his back. He pulled out his earbuds from his carry on and settled himself. He was going to be here awhile, might as well get as comfortable as possible.

While he waited for his computer to boot, he shot a text to Dean and his mother to let them know what was happening. He was too tired and disappointed to talk to them right now, not wanting to hear his mother’s masked sadness. It would only make it feel more real. He was going to miss Christmas Eve, and he didn’t want to think about. It was all gray clouds, outside and in his head. Gray clouds and storming.

Sam sighed and opened his emails, figuring he’d catch up on some work if he was stuck here. But, he couldn’t focus. He was too hot, the area too loud, he too disappointed and down. Work was just making it worse. His snowman sweater itched his arms and he tugged at the collar. He’d have to change before long, if the heat was going to keep spewing thick heat through the room.

Sam loved Christmas. He’d started wearing his holiday themed sweaters over a month ago, started buying presents the month before that. Ask anyone and they’d tell you how much Sam loved it, the lights and the tree and the family gathered together. His love only grew stronger as he got older, since Christmas was one of the few times his family came together now that he and Dean had left home.

Loud, high-pitched  laughter bounced around the room and through his earphones, making it hard to focus on the computer. It wasn’t like he was focusing all that much before, but still. Sam frowned. How could anyone be happy stranded here on Christmas Eve? Another loud bout of laughter, echoed through the room and Sam sighed, setting his laptop aside and standing. He was just going to get a drink. That was all. If he happened to walk past the source of the laughter, then maybe he’d investigate. But, he certainly didn’t seek it out. Nope.

Sam rounded the corner of the lounge to find a man, sitting crosslegged with a santa hat perched on his head, on the floor in the middle of an adjacent carpeted lounge, seats and people scattered around this one too. Around the man, children of all ages made a circle, watching with bright eyes and toothy smiles as the man told a story, arms waving and voice changing as he did.

Parents sat in seats nearby, glancing at the group over their shoulders occasionally while they bent together and whispered to each other, tense and tired eyes, trying to figure out how to adapt to the change of plans. They had families too.

The man in the center of the circle glanced up at Sam as he stepped closer, drink forgotten as he tried to hear the story he was telling the children, and his eyes locked on Sam’s, bright and golden in the artificial light spilling from above. A smile split across his face when Sam took another step and the man turned to the kids,  a glint in his eyes

“Guys, guess what?” He whispered excitedly. The children all called out ‘what’, enraptured by the man and hanging onto every word that spilled from his lips.

“I’ve found us an elf,” He said as he pointed at Sam and gestured him closer. Sam glanced back to his stuff across the way, but he shrugged and stepped forward, a smile breaking out on his face at the children’s cheers. Why not, right? He had nothing else to do. As he sat down beside the man, he tugged a green hat, elf ears sticking from the sides, over Sam’s head and grinned. “Perfect.”

“Okay, kids,” he said turning back to the group, “One second while I talk to my new helper here, okay? Why don’t you guys talk to each other about what’s going to happen next yeah? We’ll need some ideas soon.”

The kids broke into whispered chatter between themselves and the man leaned in to whisper. This close, Sam could see his eyelashes, long and dark as he blinked. “Hi, I’m Gabriel. What’s your name soldier?”

“Sam,” he whispered back.

“Alright, well I’ve got some candy canes stowed in my bag over there, and I should  have enough for this motley crew. Care to grab them for me while I finish the story?”

Sam nodded and went to the bag Gabriel pointed out as he went back into telling the story, letting the kids shout out what should happen next. He gathered all of the colorful mini candy canes in his hands and approached quietly, hovering at the edge of the circle. He wasn’t sure how Gabe wanted to do this and waited for him to notice.

Gabriel looked up at Sam, catching sight of his candy-cane laden arms, and he winked. “Guess what happens next,” He said to the kids, grin on his face.

The kids called out different things ranging from ‘the snowman dies’ to a little more positive ‘Santa brings the kids presents because they’ve been good’ among other things, each shouting over each other to be heard.

“Even better,” Gabriel said, turning to look at Sam, “Santa sent an elf to give you guys a present for being so good, and here he is.”

The kids whipped their eyes around, excitement etched across their faces. They rushed Sam in a surge, and he crouched to hand out the candy-canes to sticky outstretched fingers, one at a time.

“Now, now kids, tell Mr.Elf thank you,” Gabriel sang out. The kids called out a chorus of lispy and excited thanks as Sam handed the last kid a piece.

“‘Scuse me,” A little, blond girl tugged on Sam’s jean leg, staring up at him with bright blue eyes.

“How can I help you, young lady?” Sam asked, bending back down to her height. Gabriel came up behind her, waiting, a smirk on his face that brought out dimples in his cheeks.

“Aren’t you a little tall to be a elf?” She asked. Sam wanted to laugh, but her tight-pressed lips and wide eyes told him she was serious and was waiting for an answer to match.

“Well, young lady. I am really tall to be an elf, why do you think they sent me here instead of the workshop? I can’t fit in there, so I help Santa deliver presents instead out here instead.”

Her eyes lit up and she nodded excitedly. She threw her arms around Sam, pressing her little face into his neck before racing back to her parents and chattering at them excitedly. Gabriel held out his hand, which Sam accepted gratefully, and pulled himself into back to a standing position, his knees cracking as he stood. He was getting old.

“Thanks,” Sam said.

“No problem. Thanks for being my elf.”

“It was fun.” Sam said honestly, “You’re really good with them.”

“Kids are easy, they think like me. Adults are harder. They don’t ever say what they mean.”

Sam could agree with that. Adults were hard to read and Sam found himself really wanting to read Gabriel with his shining eyes and soothing voice.

“So, where you setting up camp for the night?” Gabriel asked.

Sam shrugged.“My stuff’s over there.”

“Wanna join me? I’ve got this place claimed as my own and the children are planning a sleepover later. We’re building a fort and everything, long as the staff don’t care.”

Sam laughed. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Cool. I’m gonna grab something to eat now, want to come?” Gabriel asked, and Sam couldn’t find any reason to say no. They walked side by side through the hallways, Gabriel shoeless and sporting bright red socks with little white presents all over them, and Sam still in his dress shoes. Sam kicked them off and let them hang on his fingers, feet sinking into the soft carpet below.

They wound up at one of the only still-open places, a small cafe tucked into the corner at the end of the hallway, crowded with the other stranded people, all in varying states of panic and resignation. Sam ordered them two hot chocolates from the frazzled employee, extra whipped cream at Gabriel’s request and they made their way back, drinks warming their stomachs. They traded the usual info while they walked, where they were going and for what. Gabriel had been going ‘nowhere in particular’ and Sam gawked.

“What about Christmas?” Sam asked, panicking internally as he realized he sounded impolite.

“Eh, my family ain’t exactly sunshine and rainbows like yours sounds. It’s better I don’t show up, with a lifestyle like mine.”

“Lifestyle?” Sam asked, again kicking himself for not filtering his thoughts. It was the heat, and his tiredness, and the man beside him that made him feel comfortable despite only knowing him a few hours.

“My family don’t agree with my choices in...romantic partners. Frown upon the whole same sex thing.”

Gabe snorted, though Sam could feel the hurt hidden behind it.

“Well, you’ll just have to come home with me then,” Sam said. Gabriel looked up at him, startled.

“You don’t even know me.”

“So?” Sam said. “No one deserves to be alone on Christmas.”

Gabriel fell into silence and Sam sipped his hot chocolate. They meandered back, soft christmas music drifting through the room from the speakers above.

They settled beside each other in the stiff chairs, Sam moving his stuff over to Gabe’s ‘claimed’ territory. The children rushed Gabe when he sat back down, fighting each other to sit next to him and tell him stories.

“One at a time, guys. We’ve got time, ‘kay? Everyone gets a turn. Sammy here’s first,” Gabe nudged Sam with his shoulder and Sam froze, not sure what to say. A story his mom used to tell him each Christmas Eve while he fell asleep popped into his head and the children fell silent around him as started to speak.

“When I was a kid,” Sam said. “My mother used to tell me about the day she saw Santa soar through the sky.”

The kids gasped and Sam told the story of his young mother, walking along the empty sidewalk on Christmas Eve one year, a tradition with her family, and as she’d looked up she’d spotted Santa’s sleigh soaring across the sky. Sam knew she’d made it up, but the story still held some sort of Christmas magic in it’s words. The children thought so too and they all ran to the window to see if they could spot Santa despite the dark cloud cover and thick snow blocking out any sign of the sky.

As the kids wandered back, disappointed, Gabriel let them each take a turn to tell the group about something. Some talked about the Christmas to come, some Christmases past, others talked about traditions and their favorite presents they’d been given. Eyes started to blink slower and heavier, yawns spreading throughout the group, and Sam went up to the desk to get as many blankets and pillows as possible. They made a nest of the sheets and pillows and the kids huddled together, falling asleep in a mass of warm bodies, cheeks red with the heat of the room and each other.

Gabe and Sam stayed seated, watching the kids succumb to sleep and fall into silence.

Gabriel seemed to be losing the same battle as the children, fighting to keep his eyes open and his head fell against Sam’s shoulder with a mumbled “‘m sleepy.” He jerked awake, shaking himself and stuttering apologizes.

“It’s fine, you can use me as a pillow,” Sam said.

Gabriel smirked, through sleep heavy eyes, and said, “I can think of a bit more to use you for.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Maybe later. Go to sleep you nerd.”

Gabriel nuzzled against Sam’s shoulder shifting until he was comfortable, his hair tickling Sam’s throat and head warm and heavy against his shoulder. The sun peaked up on the horizon, making the snow sparkle as it melted into nothing. Gabriel started to snore softly in his ear, breath puffing against Sam’s skin, and Sam thought maybe it wasn’t so bad, being here. Not bad at all.


End file.
